"Oh, no, I need a diaper!"

These were Orin's first words after going pee-pee on the potty for the first time. I am in no way planning to potty train him now, but he often begs to sit on the potty. I usually say no since he just sits there and it's more of a pain than anything. He just never had the concept of what is supposed to happen, even though he's seen Damien and I do it. After his bath last night he asked Damien to put him on so he did. Damien decided to pour water on him just to see what would happen. I was in the other room and hear Orin saying "Oh, no!" I went in to see what was going on - Damien was telling it was ok and to stay on the toilet so it wouldn't go everywhere. Orin just kept saying "I need a diaper, I need a diaper" and was somewhat freaked out. Even after he stopped peeing he was saying he wanted a diaper. But we kept trying to tell him how great it was and that mommy and daddy don't wear diapers. He finally got excited once we let him flush the toilet and we all said "Bye, bye, pee-pee." Of course, then Orin wanted to keep flushing it and said it every time he did. Now we have a rule that Orin can only flush the toilet if he puts something in it. :-)

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I just wanted to make a note...

...of the fact that Orin ate his first penny on Wednesday at 10:15pm (while visiting uncle Aaron in his not-so-child-proof hotel room) and it came out in his poop around 11:45am on Friday. :-) I wasn't too worried about until I decided to look it up on the Internet and read that you should "worry" about it...or at least call the Doctor. Interesting enough, I was reading about it about 10minutes before it came out. Copper was be pretty strong because it was completely in tact! :-)

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A Day At the Lake

After having such a blast on vacation renting a pontoon, Joel, Aaron, Erin and us decided to do it ourselves. We went rented a pontoon on Lake Anna. which is about 1 1/2 south of us. It was nice day.













The water was perfect - not too hot, not too cold. We had a great time just driving around looking at the lake and swimming in 15 feet deep water. Orin and Micaiah had a blast too. We had sandwiches, cookies, and watermelon.













It always makes me a little nervous when we're in lake water because it's not very clear and my mind starts to go places I don't want it to. We made sure to keep a close eye on them, especially Micaiah who kept trying to climb out of his tube.













About 30 minutes before we had to have the boat back, the sky got very dark and it began thundering and lightening. We decided to start heading back. Before we got going it started to POUR! One of those crazy summer storms where it goes from nothing to pouring in a minute. It was raining so hard and such big rain it was stinging us badly.












The boys started crying because it hurt and poor Joel tried to drive the boat when he couldn't see 5 feet in front of him and his face was getting hammered with rain. We tried to shield the boys with towels but it was even stinging through it. We thought if Joel just stopped that the rain wouldn't feel so hard but it did, so we kept going. We finally made it back. Micaiah had actually fallen asleep but poor Orin was somewhat traumatized. He held tight to Damien as we ran to a shelter. For about 20 minutes after he cried every time it thundered. And when we asked him later if he wanted to go back on the boat he just said, "All done boat." I think the worst part of it was that all of our stuff got SOAKED. But it was actually a pretty funny experience and we were laughing about it as it happened and afterward. These are the things that makes vacations memorable!

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My Daughter

Since Orin was born, more often than not, people think he is a girl. I think it's the hair! (ha, ha) Actually, it happened just as often before his hair got long. It truly doesn't bother me when people get it wrong and I usually don't correct them so that they don't feel bad. Last Friday I think I had the funniest confusion so far. I took Orin to get his hair cut..well, trimmed. I'm always a little nervous because Damien would be very sad - as would I - if they cut all of his hair off. So on Friday, as usual, I stressed that I just wanted just a trim and maybe a little layers. I told her we like it long but that he is a boy so to keep that in mind. The woman who was cutting his hair was an older Hispanic woman. She seemed to understand and began cutting away. She put in "Bob the Builder" (Orin's new favorite show) and Orin did well. As she finished, having done exactly what I asked, she started digging through her drawer. Normally, at Cartoon Cuts, they give the kids a lolly pop when they are done so that is what I thought she was looking for. Suddenly she pulls out a little butterfly hair clip and puts it into his hair.















Then she smiled says to him "You're very pretty". I was a little shocked and somewhat confused, especially since I had told her that he was a boy. But by the time I realized what had happened it was too late so I just smiled and said "Yep". I didn't have the heart to tell her that he wasn't a girl. I guess she didn't understand English as well as I thought. So we paid and left with it still in his hair. He actually kept it in until we got home. Luckily I got a few pictures.

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Daspit Family Vacation

I'm about a month late in posting this, but I've gotten a little behind. :-) We had a great time down in TN with Damien's family. We decided to leave a day earlier than we had planned to go down. So on Friday night we drove 3 hours to Roanoke to get a head start. Orin was sooo excited when we got there. We had told him we were going to a hotel. Even though it was midnight when we arrived, he was bouncing off of the wall. He also couldn't believe that he was going to get to sleep in the same room as mom and daddy in his own big bed. Micaiah, who just feeds off of Orin's energy, was thrilled as well. It took us an hour to get them down but it was worth it to see the excitement. The next day we only had to drive five hours to the cabin which made us really glad that we had started early the day before. After checking in, we drove back into town and ate at a local diner. When Mimie, Christina, Rob got in Orin ran to them. We thought he was running to Mimie but he actually ran to Uncle Rob! It was pretty funny. There is just something about men. Sunday we hung around waiting for the rest of the family to show up. Poor guys had a 10 hour drive and didn't get in until after 12am. But finally everyone was there and it was time for vacation to begin. On Monday we went to the Lost Sea - Damien and I had seen it once before while we were in college - and to Sweetwater Valley Dairy Farm. I thought it was really interesting to tour the farm, see how the milk the cows and make the cheese -- and we got some really great cheese. Tuesday we rented a Pontoon boat. What a blast! I didn't even realize you could so something like that. We drove around the lake, stopping a few times to swim. I think Uncle Rob enjoyed it most. Wednesday was a little bit of a relaxing day. We hiked to a water fall with the boys who loved sloshing through the creek and playing in the water. That night we got some fireworks. I really thought Orin would love them. He was fine when the first few went off and made a LOUD boom, but then Micaiah began screaming, that was it. Orin was terrified and didn't want to see any more. It's amazing how much his emotions seems tied to Micaiah's. Thursday was check-out day. We ate lunch in town and then headed home. It was a rough trip. Micaiah was exhausted and cried for the first 2 hours which made Orin pretty upset too. Damien wasn't feeling well either. We stopped in Bristol, TN to meet and have dinner with our Wycliffe Personnel Administrator. Although the kids were a little more difficult to handle than usual, it was nice to put a face on the person we've been working with for over a year to guide us in becoming missionaries. The kids did better the last 4 hours and it was a pretty peaceful trip. We got in about 12:30am. It was such a great trip and it was so nice to hang out with family. Especially since we all won't be together again for a while as R&C will be leaving for the Philippines for 10 months. But sometimes when we get together the difficulty in saying goodbye almost outweighs the fun of being together. When we are away from family we miss them, but being with them (and being reminded how much fun it is to be together) makes it even that much harder.

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Dress-up

Orin found some dress-up clothes at a friend's house and insisted on putting them on. I just couldn't resist taking tons of pictures.

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We're In Business

We have a bathroom! Ed has been tirelessly working on getting our bathroom ready since we moved here in January. Since we are living in the basement, we've been having to walk upstairs to use the closest bathroom. It has been rather difficult especially for the kids baths since their kids go to bed around 7 and we're just eating dinner then. In April we got a toilet which was great when we had to go to he potty in the middle of the night or if I was alone with the kids. In June we got a vanity. Another great advance so that Damien didn't have to go upstairs to get ready in the morning. I could also get ready without having to worry about the kids killing themselves while I ran upstairs to brush my teeth. :-) And finally, two weeks ago we got a shower! Since it's a stand-up shower I bought a little inflatable bathtub for the kids to use. They love it. Only one can fit in it at a time. Last night they had their first baths in it and whoever wasn't in the bath tub stood outside it and played. I'm so excited about it. It's amazing how much you appreciate it being so close after it being so far!

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"The Race" is Over

Well, another year of VBS is behind us. This year out theme was "The Incredible Race". Unfortunately, the curriculum didn't come with missions materials - which is actually pretty surprising. The way our VBS works is that there are 4 stations...Bible Story, Missions, Craft, & Games. Last year was nice because there was a curriculum that I could use. But last year I also didn't have any help so I ended up preparing everything for 175 kids by myself. This year I had to create my own curriculum, but I had an awesome assistant plus two teens to help during the day. At first it was hard to delegate, but I put D in charge of organizing one activity/game each day. I got the "Great Commission Toolbox" CD for her to use. It has TONS of great activities to use with kids and adults. I had a $200 budget which was helpful. After much research I decided to tell the story of a Wycliffe woman who translated the bible for a tribe in the Philippines called "Forever Changed By the Book". I do have a bias to Wycliffe, but the main reason I chose it was because it came with a CD that I could use to project the pictures instead of just holding up paper ones. I was surprised how much the kids liked the story. Some other things I did was show a few different short videos such as "Unreached people groups in East Asia", a Wycliffe video about how there are "All Types of Jobs" you can do as a missionary, and "Only Imagine". Another thing we did was have a RBC supported missionary of the day and a Bibleless People Group of the day that we read about in the "Akebu to Zapotec" book. Each day I asked the children to pray for the missionary and the people-group at home. They were even sent home with a paper with sample prayers. I also asked them to write a letter to each missionary of the day and bring it back which I plan to send to the missionaries. It was overwhelming to see how many kids brought the letters back. We hope it will be encouraging to the missionary when they receive tons of letters from the kids. I really had a good time and the kids seemed to be better behaved than last year (the children's director said she was thinking the same thing). I think the hardest part of the week fell on Damien. Micaiah came down with something on Sunday. I think the cold he had been fighting for two weeks finally got the best of him. He had a high fever so I couldn't put him in the nursery. So Damien stayed home each morning to take care of him. By Wednesday Micaiah's fever was up to 105 so we took him in. The poor baby had two severe ear infections, pink eye, and a rash. The Dr. said it was pretty bad and that it might turn into Pneumonia but he thought we caught it in time. Micaiah HATES the antibiotic and has thrown up from gagging on it. But I digress. It was a great week and I pray that I helped instill a passion for missions in the over 150 kids I had in the class...if not to be a missionary, to be a prayer warrior for them.

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Calling Churches

A couple of months ago we sent letters to about 20 churches in our area and didn't hear back from ANY of them. So, after some encouragement from our PA, I started calling them to "follow-up". I have to say that it is sort of humbling to introduce yourself to someone you don't know and say you're looking for financial support. It's definitely the type of phone calls that get me nervous. Thankfully, most people have been really nice and one pastor even said he felt bad that they had never gotten back to us. But it's difficult when you get the impression that you're annoying the person you're talking to. We definitely have gotten a lot of "Thanks but we're not in the position to add new missionaries at this time." I feel like we have such a long way to go in raising support. But just when I start to get discouraged, God always finds a way to make me remember that He is in control and that it will happen.

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Massanutten Resort

Our friends own a time-share at the Massanutten resort in VA. They gave us one of those free weekends where you go and get everything for free (and get $100), but you have to take that dreadful tour. We knew what we were getting into but we decided it would be fun to get away anyway. Aaron is in town so he came with us. Orin remembered our last hotel experience and was so excited when we got there. He couldn't believe he would get to sleep in the same bed as Uncle Aaron. We got in last Friday night. On Saturday, we realized we had ALL forgotten our bathing suits. Being that the first thing we wanted do was to swim, we went on a mission to find a cheap bathing suit. We ate brunch at a diner and headed to K-mart. I actually found something for $10. We also went to Target to get one for the boys. It was actually pretty fun just looking around with everybody. We finally got back to the resort and went for a swim. I was so proud of Orin. We put the floaties on his arms and got in the water. He's been a little apprehensive lately to be in the water. But while Aaron was talking to him and telling him he was okay, Aaron let go of him. Orin didn't realize it but he was floating there by himself. It was fun. We tried to teach him to blow/spit the water out when it got in his mouth. He didn't quit do it right but what he was doing worked. We tried to get him to kick and swim between all of us. I think he'll be swimming in no time. Later that night we went to a great buffet in their large indoor water park. The next morning we had the tour at 8am. Those of you who know us well know that we aren't ever up at that hour. We got to the tour and couldn't believe how SLOW they were moving. They made us go in their cars so we had to wait for car seats. A tour I thought would take less than two hours turned into 4! What a pain. We were actually surprised at how expensive the timeshares were. Of course, each time we said "We're not interested" they lowered the price. By the end, they were actually pretty cheap and we started to think about it. The cool thing is that you can trade with any timeshare all over the world. It might be something really neat to have for us and for our families for vacations. But of course they have the "You have to get it now or never." We don't make decisions like that. All in all, I don't think the trip was worth it. I was sort of distracted the entire time as well knowing that I needed to get back early enough Sunday to decorate my room for VBS. So, I guess it was a lesson learned...and I totally forgot to take any pictures!

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